VOLUNTEERS SHOW TRUE COLORS AT SUFFIELD SCHOOL

The aging, orange mural touting "elcome" to students, staff and visitors at the A. Ward Spaulding elementary school got back its missing W Tuesday.

About 25 volunteers visited the school during the vacation week to brighten and complete murals that fill the halls and the walls of several rooms. The project is expected to be finished Friday.

The murals, designed by students 15 years ago, were chipped, faded, and in some places - such as the school's entrance - altered by construction, said Geri Yamrose, a member of the Suffield Council for the Arts, which sponsored the project.

Fish got fresh fins, sunshines were brightened and spiders were spruced up as the volunteers - most without art experience - brushed on paint supplied by the council.

"I figured I couldn't do a worse job than the kids," said Susie Doran, a parent who volunteered Monday and Tuesday. "I felt it was sort of an obligation to come; if my kids go here, I should help."

Doran, two of whose three sons will go to Spaulding next year, said she remembered being intimidated and confused in the blank halls of the elementary schools as a child.

"The pictures are so nice for the kids, they love them," she said. "It helps them get around," especially since some are still learning to read.

A bandage the size of a small child is painted outside the nurse's office, helping children find their way, while a half-eaten hamburger adorns the cafeteria wall.

The pictures, Doran said, not only make the students comfortable, but they make a good impression on visitors.

Doran and her children saw them for the first time when they went inside after playing on the playground.

"They were surprised to see them," she said. "They really noticed them and liked them."

Gloria Magliozzi, who works in the school's reading program, said she remembers the murals being painted while her children were in elementary school.

"The kids designed the murals and an art teacher painted them," she said.

Magliozzi said she volunteered this week so other children could enjoy the pictures and she could have a sense of accomplishment.

"It's nice to walk down the halls and say, `I did those drips, I did that hand,' " she said. "It feels good to help out."